French poverty back to 2010 level after Macron’s reforms
Ramin Mazaheri
Press TV, Paris
A new report by the French government says that last year poverty and economic inequality in France soared to its highest rate in nearly a decade.
Last year alone a shocking 500,000 people were forced into poverty. That represents a rise of almost one full percent in the national poverty rate, which is now at 15%. The total number of France’s poor people has reached a level not seen since 2010, the darkest days of the start of the Great Recession.
The report also found that the inequality between the top 20% and the bottom 20% of society has continued to widen. Analysts say the data is a sweeping condemnation of the policies of President Emmanuel Macron, who has raised taxes on the average household, cut taxes on corporations and the wealthy and rolled back the labor code by decree.
The increased inequality has occurred even though French corporations have repeatedly enjoyed record profits over the last decade, while Quantitative easing has kept French banks flush with money and bailed out their failures.
Macron is in the middle of forcing through an unpopular roll back to the pension system, which has sparked ongoing strikes and protests. Pensioners are extremely subject to falling into poverty, which means France’s poverty rate could skyrocket yet again next year.
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